G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a sunny Saturday here right now…….…… Hope all you tuxers had a good week……. This week was very weather affected…… Could not do a lot….. I got some firewood from the next door neighbour…… Natasha Graduated from Puppy School….. She got got her final shots……. 8 more days till I can walk her around town…….. And I got rained on most times I went out…….. In some good news I picked the first mandarin of my mandarin tree this week……. Should be plenty more to come in the weeks ahead…...


Natasha Graduating…...

As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played…….

Arcade

Waku Waku 7 (1996 Sunsoft) - Fighting


Console

Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NARC (2005 Midway) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Action
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)


PC

Grand Theft Auto III (2001 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


The Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 14
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 14
Weekly Dirt Racing Series Season 2: Race 3

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 3 of 10 here at Kingsfield Raceway.......

Kingsfield Raceway is 0.375 miles long with 15 degrees of banking……. This dirt track requires a good handling car with some decent horsepower for the straights…… Driver skill is required too as the grass apron is very close to the racing line that causes chaos when you touch it…….

Last week Dick Trickle dominated the field leading all 50 laps at Kenyon Valley Speedway…… Dick will be looking to repeat that performance……. Ted Finger is sitting second in the championship and will be looking to get the win to become a real title contender……



Kingsfield Raceway…...


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.…

I was having a walk around the paddock earlier today and I noticed some very new looking shocks and springs on Dick Trickles car……. I asked him about the shiny new parts and he told “Yes….. I bought a new suspension upgrade….. Top of the range too….. I told you last week my domination was not going to end….. And I meant it……”

So there you have it….. Even though he has won the first two races…… Dick Trickle is not going to let complacency set in…… He is still purchasing new upgrades for the car…… This season could get bowling shoe ugly unless Ted Finger, Josh Ginter or Joe Fazioli can pull a rabbit out of the hat and stand up to Dick…….

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series action....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...



New Suspension…...

Dick Trickle enjoyed a good practice session as he ran in the new suspension….. The car was fast and handled very well…… Taking the corners with ease……. Dick had a huge smile on his face when he got out of the car after the practice session ended……

Qualifying was up next and Dick Trickle put in a blisteringly fast lap of 15.386 seconds…… Dick Trickle claimed pole by .4 of a second from second place John Rafter……

Joe Fazioli was fifth…… Josh Ginter was seventh…… Ted Finger was fifteenth…… And with Matthew Kato not being here today…… Dick Trickle is in a great position…...


Qualifying Results........

The green flag dropped for the 5 lap Heat race…….. Dick Trickle got of to a good start but the outside line was half a car length faster…….. But that didnt deter Dick as he shoved it up in the inside of turn one to take the line away from Jeff Fulton……

Dick Trickle exited turn two in the head and never looked back……. Dick Trickle won the head race by 1.6 seconds over Josh Ginter….. Who worked his way up from fourth to second…...


Heat 1 Results.......


Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the A Main......

Dick led the field as the green flag dropped for the 63 lap A Main race……. Much like in the heat race…… The outside line had a better start……. As just like in the heat race this did not deter Dick who in a carbon copy move shoved it up the inside of John Rafter into turn one to take his line away and lead exiting turn 2…….

Josh Ginter followed Dick through the hole…… While Ted Finger was making a great recovery drive and was soon up into fourth place place…….

But Dick Trickle was just to fast and to consistent…… Putting is blisteringly fast laps……. This left the scrap for second……. Ted Finger, Josh Ginter and John Rafter…… The three put on an epic battle as Dick Trickle just drove into the distance…..

The three drivers not giving each other an inch as they were constantly swapping positions for over 50 laps…… It was exciting stuff…… If only it was for the win……

But that wasnt to be as Dick Trickle annihilated the field……. leading all 63 laps and lapped the entire field….. Not once….. But twice…… On his way to victory lane…….

John Rafter managed to out last Ginter and Finger to claim second…. Two laps behind Dick Trickle…… With Josh Ginter snagging third place by a whisker over Ted Finger……

Joe Fazioli had a disappointing day ending in fifth place…… Three laps behind Dick…..

I caught up with Dick after the race…… “Thanks Murray…… The suspension upgrade made a massive difference to the car…….. She was fast the moment she rolled off the trailer…… I heard John Rafter took second which is good for the championship…… It was a good day…….. Fastest in qualifying…….. Led all 5 laps of the Heat race and led all 63 laps of the A Main……. I told you Murray…… And the viewers……. This is not going to be a close championship…….. Not at all……. And my domination will not end any time soon…….”

Well there you have it folks……. That is one dominating Dick…….

Dick Trickle was seen taking his winnings to the paddock area and talking to another parts dealer……. The fat lady might want to get ready and warm up her voice if he is able to purchase any new upgrades……..

Next week the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series heads to Anoka City Speedway…… Will the Dick domination continue….. Or can Ted Finger or Josh Ginter finally sort out their issues and get their seasons back on track???…… Dick Trickle already has a 87 point lead in the championship…… So they better hurry up…..

Tune in next week for the answers to all these questions and more….. Exclusively here on Left Turn Heaven……..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


A Main Results.....


Winnings....


NASCAR Heat Weekly....


2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 3 of 10.…






First lap A Main action....


Waku Waku 7



Waku Waku 7….. Its a very strange fighting game for the Neo Geo….. With lots of crazy characters and even stranger bosses…….

Gameplay is your standard 4 button 2D fighter game affair……. Beat the crap out of each other until either the time runs out of a players health bar is depleted…… Its not rocket science……

Graphics are really nice with excellent use of bright vibrant colours…… The sprite work is up to the usual Neo Geo excellent standard with some very very bizarrely designed characters…… As are the animations….. The colours and the sprites and the animations all have a very nice cartoon like feel about them….. And really helps the tie the whole visual aesthetic together…….

The controls are really good… As they need to be for a fighting game…… Nice and tight and responsive…… Really no complaints here….. Cant pull off a super???….. Well you are not inputting it correctly…. Because the controls are great…..

The storyline in Waku Waku 7 is….. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and it up to the Ninja Tur…. Wait…… This isnt a beat ‘em up……. Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries…… It is said that the person who collects all seven Waku Waku balls will have their wish granted…….. Those who find one of the balls become obsessed with the desire to obtain the other six….. And perhaps you can solve the mystery of if this is indeed true and what a Ryu looking punching bag has to do with any of this…….

The sound is excellent with really nice music and sound effects that continue along the cartoonish vide of the whole game….. Not much else to say…. Its just really good…..

Overall this is a criminally underrated game on the Neo Geo…… Its a damn good game that deserves as much praise as Fatal Fury and The King Of Fighters……. So if you are looking for a different fight game that is bright and colourful and wacky……. Waku Waku 7 should interest you…...



Waku Waku 7


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City



Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is so 80's...... its even more 80's than games made in the 80's.....… And it is one of my favourite games ever made………

The glitz…... The glamour……. The Big hair……. The hot pink neon……. This is game has it all…. I play thought this game every single year……. And for my money…… This is the best GTA game ever made……

The gameplay for the most part still holds up today……… The only place that lacks a bit is the shooting……. Everything else is great fun……. Lots of cool cars to steal…… Businesses to own…… Crazy characters to interact with…… And best of all……. NO BOWLING WITH YOUR COUSIN……

The default graphics have aged not so good…… As was the style at the time……. But when mods are thrown in this game from 2002 can downright look fantastic at times……. The use of colour was always very good…… But the textures and some of the models had not aged well at all…… And thanks to mods most of that has been solved…… All the textures all much better…….. The models have been touched up…….. Even the use of colour has been greatly improved…….. And the widescreen support from mods is a god send as well…...

The controls have aged well enough…… Driving is good fun thought…… The cars have a nice planted feel about them…… Very arcade like….. Helicopters and planes can take some getting use too…… Again the shooting controls are ok at best….. Could do with some improvement but that was the style at the time…….

The storyline is where it is at though……. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and it is up to the Ninja Tur……. Hang on……. Wrong channel again…… Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries…… Sonny Forellis money was kidnapped during a drug deal gone bad…… And it is up to Tommy Vercetti to get it back…… This leads into a really great redemption storyline for Tommy….. Along the way Tommy will have to deal with crazy characters from all walks of life…… Make some new friends….. And make some new enemies as well……. And perhaps you can solve a mystery of who kidnapped Sonnys money…… And just many Hawaiian shirts does Tommy own???

Most of the sounds are great…….. The radio stations are excellent…… Vrock being my favourite of the new stations….. The voice acting is again fantastic…… With lots of notable people lending their voices to the game such as….. Ray Liotta, Gary Busey, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Danny Trejo and many more…… Most of the sound effects are good too…… The vehicles in general sound really nice……. The random pedestrian voices are really nice too…….. But as is the running theme here….. The gun sounds are a let down….. They sound very weak…..

Overall this is a fantastic game…… The storyline although glossed over for time and space constraint reasons is really well done for a video game back in 2002…… Lots of good twists and turns…… And a fun time……..

This is probably the last GREAT GTA game…… I did not like San Andreas and IV much at all…… GTA started to get too grounded and the characters lost their craziness…… They stopped being caricature……. The radio stations went downhill as well……. For me GTA lost its “Fun Factor” after Vice City……

If you do play this….. Get the PC version….. And mod it…… It is awesome with all the graphics mods and user made patches…….








Grand Theft Auto: Vice City


Next week who knows…… The weather is meant to be improving…… I hope to get some non rain interrupted walking in……. And I need to get out and do more in the garden…….. Should be more mandarins to pick during the week as well…..

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. There will be another arcade game with dragons……. And I will continue my stupid quest of making a setup for every car at every track in NASCAR Heat 5……

Current setup checklist…...
Cup: 25 of 30
Xfinity: 25 of 30
Truck: 26 of 31
Dirt: 9 of 9

Well thats it from me…… Hope all you tuxers have a good week……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
If you dont pay your exorcist…….. Do you get repossessed???…...
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*